The Consumption of Firewood as an Energy Consumption among Households in Kosovo and its Environment Implications

Energy consumption research in household is very complicated since households in Kosovo use various energy sources for many purposes. Furthermore, the energy consumption has become even This high preference of usage of firewood in households, which is continuously increasing, will have more unpredicted by the fact that Kosovo is has a very high unemployment rate (highest in Europe), very high electricity prices, which for most of the Kosovar households unmanageable financially as a result of low average salary, which complicates issues further. This paper will try to show the quantity and quality, respectively the efficiency of energy consumption in Kosovo separated in different types of energy sources. Although all energy consumption sources will be analysed, more attention will be paid to the firewood consumption for various reasons but mainly financial since for some households wood from their own forests or even public forests is free, even though wood logging is illegal without permission in Kosovo. Furthermore, the paper will analyse living conditions, quality of construction with regards the absorptive material or energy insulated, house equipments or energy consumption sources, varieties of heating appliances that are used in household, and finally some basic information that are linked with the efficiency of energy consumption, the level of efficiency measures used in Kosovo households as well their future plans regarding energy efficiency.

Keywords: Energy, Kosovo, households, consumption, firewood

Article published in International Journal of Current Engineering and Technology, Vol.3,No.3(Aug- 2013)